MRSA is not a virus, it is a bacteria and is infectious. Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is a skin bacterium, and is resistant to a range of antibiotics.

MRSA symptoms of infection include:

• boils (infection of the hair follicles)
• impetigo (a highly contagious skin infection that produces blisters)
• abscesses (pockets of pus underneath the skin)
• carbuncles (large pus-filled lumps underneath the skin)
• cellulitis (infection of the deep layer of the skin, and the fat and tissues that lie beneath)
• styes (infection of the eyelid glands).

An MRSA-infected wound will become swollen, tender and red, with yellow pus seeping from it. Skin ulcers are often sites of infection.

If MRSA bacteria enter into the bloodstream from your skin, they can affect almost any part of the body causing:

• septicaemia (blood poisoning)
• septic shock (widespread infection of the blood that leads to a fall in blood pressure and organ failure)
• septic arthritis (severe joint problems)
• meningitis
• osteomyelitis (bone marrow infection)
• pneumonia
• abscesses deep within the body
• endocarditis (infection of the heart lining).

Visit the NHS page on MRSA for further information.